


The Whole World

by celluloidbroomcloset



Category: The Avengers (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Parents, Children, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-24
Updated: 2015-08-24
Packaged: 2018-04-17 01:13:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4646796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celluloidbroomcloset/pseuds/celluloidbroomcloset
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steed and Emma are awakened in the middle of the night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Whole World

“Mummy!" A pause. “Daddy!” Another pause. “Mummy!”

They awoke simultaneously. Steed heard Emma’s breathing shift and she wriggled around as she usually did when denying wakefulness. But there was nothing for it. They’d both heard it. The tiny, wailing voice from the room just down the hall, insisting on their attention. 

“It’s all right, sweetheart!” Steed managed to shout, his voice hoarse from sleep. That would not settle her, but one could always hope. There was a moment of silence in acknowledgment of the response, then the wailing took up again. Intermittent “Mummies” and “Daddies” reverberated through the house.

“She won’t go back to sleep,” muttered Emma. 

Steed sighed. “I’ll go.”

His wife’s hand on his arm kept him from throwing back the covers. 

“If you go, she’ll wind up in our bed. I’ll go.”

Steed leaned back and watched Emma struggle out of bed. She was right about that. Though Cathy was a tough little girl who had fallen out of every tree on the estate and more often than not was covered in mud, brambles, and other unnamable substances from her “expotitions” to God knows where, he could not suppress that side of him that wanted to protect her from all harm, dry all tears, and prevent all sorrows. In other words, he was a soft touch and she had known it since she was a day old. 

He listened as Emma walked down the hallway, and heard the soft click of the light in Catherine’s room. Murmured voices, one low and rich, the other high and childish, but both with the same recognizable cadence. He heard the usual question “Can I sleep in your room?” and the inevitable answer, “It’s better if you stay in here, darling.” He imagined Emma arranging the big teddy bear that had been in Catherine’s crib and that contained more sentimental value to him and Emma than their daughter would probably know, and how Emma would explain that Reginald would protect her from anything, and that she and Daddy were just down the hall. Steed sighed. He remembered being a child afraid of the dark. Only the nanny ever came to his calls. 

A few minutes later, the light turned off and Emma’s bare feet padded back to their room. She snuggled down beside him and he turned to put his arm around her. 

“She’s all right.”

“Monsters?”

“Dracula. I don’t know who told her about him, but if I find out, I’ll suck their blood.”

“Mmm. Dracula’s scary. Crawling up and down those walls, coming as a mist through the keyhole. Biting unsuspecting damsels…” He nipped at her neck. She pressed her cold feet against his shin. 

“Go to sleep,” she said, laughing quietly.

Steed closed his eyes. 

Steed opened his eyes. It was just dawn: the grey sky outside was a lighter shade. He rolled over to face his wife and found his daughter, fast asleep beside him. The little girl lay with her face pressed into one of his pillows, her mother’s arms secure around her. Steed looked at their sleeping faces, very similar in repose. Cathy had her mother’s auburn hair and high cheekbones, though he proudly noted that there was a good bit of him about the eyes, when they were open. He ran his fingers through the little girl’s satin hair. The movement made her mother shift, eyes batting open. 

“Soft touch,” Steed murmured at her, smiling. 

Emma pulled a face. “Shhh, you’ll wake her.”

Cathy rolled as if on cue, and nestled down with her head pressed into her father’s chest. Steed felt a wellspring of affection rise, both for the little girl who still needed her Daddy, and the grown woman whose child she so obviously was. He reached out for Emma as she curved her body to pull closer to him and the child. Steed sighed. He probably wouldn’t be able to fall asleep. Eventually Cathy would kick him in the ribs in her sleep as a spectacular imitation of her namesake, and the big bed would seem too small for the three of them. But for the moment, he held his entire world in his arms.


End file.
